101-year-old in farm foreclosure case eager to leave hospital

Agnes Albinger, the 101-year-old Monee resident who became a cause celebre in April when she successfully fought foreclosure of her farm, was hospitalized this week after suffering from a fall.

But her doctors say she is in good health, and from her hospital bed today, Albinger vowed to return to the 70-acre homestead where she has lived since 1949.

Agnes Albinger, 101, in her room at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields today. (David Pierini/Chicago Tribune)

Dressed in a beige hospital gown and hooked to an intravenous drip at St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, Albinger seemed vigorous. She praised her doctors, calling them "handsome young men," and said her room was so big, it felt like a castle. Still, she wasn't getting too comfortable.

"I have no complaints against the hospital at all, it's a wonderful place," she said. "It's just that I would rather be home."

That's a refrain Albinger has repeated since her farm went into foreclosure last year. Albinger has long insisted that she would rather die than leave her house, and friends and strangers rallied around her last spring by cleaning up the dilapidated property. After her story ran in the Tribune, the bank halted the foreclosure, and the town of Monee granted her more time to bring the property up to code.

Albinger's financial troubles stem from a series of complex transactions that, beginning in 2000, saddled the property with mortgage debt totaling $700,000. During the course of several years, Albinger had signed her land over to a company called Phoenix Horizon LLC, which, according to state records, was formed by Albinger's niece, Bridget Gruzdis.

After the foreclosure, Albinger said she didn't know about the mortgages; that claim prompted an investigation by the Will County state's attorney's office.

This week, prosecutors said they do not expect to bring criminal charges in the case. And representatives at First Midwest Bank say they remain committed to allowing Albinger to remain on her farm.

Doctors say Albinger should be released within a few days. Asked how she felt about being discharged, she said: "I don't care how good your hospital is, there's no place like home."